Catherine Jones-Hazledine, Ph.D.ESU 13

10/30/14

Preventing and Addressing Bullying in Our Schools

O What bullying is, and what forms it takesO Who bulliesO What contributes to this behavior (and how)O Consequences of bullyingO What you can do to help stop this problem

What is “Bullying”?

O Bullying is a repeated aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power

O Power imbalance can be due to size or social status

O Aggressive behavior can be physical, verbal or emotionalO Verbal is the most common

Accepted DefinitionO 3 Components

O IntentionalO RepeatedO Power Imbalance

Is This Bullying?- Jo hates Kelsey. They used to be friends, but

had a fight and stopped hanging out. Now every day in the hallway, Jo and her new friends make a point of staring and whispering under their breath and then giggling when Kelsey walks by. They aren’t really saying anything about her, but want her to think they are.

Is This Bullying?O A group of 8th Graders always sit in the same

seats on the bus, and like to suddenly stick out a foot to trip an unpopular 6th Grader as he walks past.

Is This Bullying?O Jen and Tara have an argument at school.

Tara texts Jen afterward to say how angry she is, and that she doesn’t want to be friends any more.

Is This Bullying?O Sam and his friends play football at recess.

Sam routinely tells John that he cannot play because he “is not fast enough”, so John is only allowed to play football with the group if Sam is absent.

Is This BullyingO Pam has poor frustration tolerance and

when she cannot understand something in class she tends to get very angry and verbally “lash out” at whoever is near –telling them to “shut up” or “drop dead”.

Forms of BullyingO Physical Bullying

O Hitting, kicking, poking, trippingO Verbal Bullying

O Calling names, insults, racist remarksO Social Bullying

O Not letting someone join a group, spreading rumors or lies, mimicking

O Psychological BullyingO Intimidating, stalking

O Cyber-bullyingO Using technology to make someone feel bad

Some bullying behaviorsO Pushing, hitting, kickingO Spreading a mean rumorO Repeatedly calling namesO Repeatedly making fun of someone’s clothing,

speech, appearance, etcO Preventing someone from sitting at a certain

table, being involved in an activity, associating with a group.

O Sending mean or threatening emails, texts, Facebook posts

More bullying behaviorsO Stealing or destroying another’s propertyO Playing pranks on someone in front of their

peer groupO Obscene gestures or language intended to

harass or embarrassO Repeated racial slursO Intentional, repeated annoyance of another

Who Bullies?

Identifying The Bullies

If Only It Were This Easy To Tell….

Who Bullies?

O There are bullies everywhere O All regions, all socioeconomic statuses, both genders, all

ages O Problem peaks, though, in Middle SchoolO Likely due to transitional nature of this time

O Less supervision, hormonal changes, stress of transition, greater likelihood of depression and anxiety in this group, etc

O 30% of all kids in grade 6 – 10 have been involved in bullying (either being bullied or bullying someone) in any given semester

O Boys are more likely to be physically bulliedO Girls are more likely to be victims of rumor or sexual

comments and are more likely to use social exclusion (not let people hang out with them)

Who Bullies?O It is important to remember that there are

not really stable categories of “bully” and “victim” – kids involved in bullying may cross back and forth over this line during their time in school.

O At the same time, research indicates that “80 percent of the problem is caused by 20% of the students”

The High Cost of Bullying

Consequences of Bullying

Words Hurt…..

Effects of BullyingO Kids who are bullied are more likely to:

O Be depressedO Be anxiousO Be lonelyO Have low self-esteemO Feel sick a lotO Have migraine headachesO Think about suicide

O 15 – 25 kids per year commit suicide due to bullying

O Kids who bully are more likely to:O Be unemployed laterO Have substance abuse problemsO Engage in dating or marital violenceO Be convicted of a crimeO Commit suicide

Causes of Bullying

Why Does This Happen?

What Causes Bullying?O Not a simple question!O Probably multiple factors

O Individual FactorsO Family FactorsO Peer Group FactorsO School FactorsO Community Factors

Individual Factors

O Depression, Anxiety and other emotional issuesO Misery loves company?

O Impulsiveness O Makes students prone to “act first, think later”

types of behaviorO Poor social skills

O Can lead to negative attention seekingO Inadequate coping ability

O Reduces student’s ability to more appropriately handle frustration, sadness, etc

Family FactorsO AbuseO Neglect or just lack of parental involvementO Inadequate supervisionO Aggressive behaviors modeled by family

Peer Group FactorsO Bullying is seen as acceptableO “Mob Mentality”

O People often willing to do or say things in a group that they wouldn’t 1:1

O Us versus Them (e.g. jocks versus nerds)

School FactorsO Inadequate staffing

O Inadequate supervision in high-risk areasO Adults are bullies

O Students pay attention if staff model name-calling, teasing, mimicking of other students or staff

O Lack of adult interventionO Failure to see bullying as a problem

O This is “normal kid behavior”O Kids need to “just deal”

O Discouragement of “tattling”

School FactorsO Punishment versus intervention

O Zero tolerance policies not necessarily effective

O Negative school climateO Where staff or students are unhappyO Prosocial behaviors are not

encouraged/valued

Community FactorsO High levels of community aggressionO Few resourcesO Lack of community-school cooperation

Finding Workable Solutions

How Do We Stop This?

Preventing and Intervening In Schools

O Simply having a no-tolerance policy is not enough

O Neither is a one time “bullying” presentationO Teachers can’t do this alone

O Change must be system wide and include students, staff and parents

At a School-Wide Level

O Create an advisory team to study this issue in your school O Every school is differentO Advisory team should include staff members,

administration, parent members and studentsO Involve EVERYONEO Have a clear anti-bullying policy

O Study policies from “model” districtsO Policy should clearly define bullyingO Reporting procedures, investigation, and consequences

should be outlinedO Policy must be written AND clearly communicated to

staff and students. Frequently.

At a School-Wide Level O Prevention is important

O It is never too early to start teaching tolerance, empathy and prosocial behavior

O Increased adult supervision will helpO Certain areas and times are more “high risk”O These may vary school to school, but often include:

hallways between classes, recess, bus rides, periods before and after school, bathrooms

O Train, train, trainO Have trainings for all staff in how to respond consistentlyO Train students in how to respond to bullyingO Train parents in how to identify and address these

problems with their kids

At a School-Wide LevelO Don’t limit this discussion to seminars and

assembliesO Set aside class time to address bullying

topicsO Include Bullying literature in reading classes,

etcO Provide individual and group resources to

victims of, and perpetrators of, bullyingO Remember long-term consequences for both

groups?

At a School-Wide LevelO Changing the school “climate”

O Have adults consistently model appropriate social behaviorsO In their own behavior, and when they witness

students exhibiting inappropriate behaviorsO Encourage and reinforce prosocial behaviors and

let students do the sameO Coins for kindness

O Recruit older students as models and mentors and identify them to the student populationO Use peer pressure to your benefit!

In The ClassroomO Model prosocial behaviors

O Be careful of your own use of teasing, etcO If you hear students being unkind or socially

unskilled use it as a teaching momentO Teach to this problem as often as possible

O Consider including readings about this issue in your curriculum

O Make sure that students understand the definition of bullying, and set a firm classroom policyO Be sure this is in line with your school’s larger policyO Post it – students are visual beings!!!!

O Be careful about words such as “tattling” O Tattling is telling a teacher SOLELY to get

someone else in troubleO Don’t overestimate students coping abilities

O If students could “just ignore it” they wouldn’t be bringing it up to you in the first place

O Communicate with parentsO Both the positive and the negative

O Use school and community resourcesO Refer high risk kids to school or community

counseling professionals

S.T.A.N.DO Students Taking A New Direction Against BullyingO A program that involved Gordon-Rushville Middle

School, Gordon Elementary School and Gordon-Rushville High School

O Asked students to commit to:O Standing for something different than bullyingO Standing up for themselves if they are bulliedO Standing up for others if they see them being

bullied

O Almost entire student populations (literally with 2 exceptions) signed a commitment sheet

O Used highly valued high school mentorsO Signed commitment of agreement to

principlesO Highly identifiable visual element (tie-dyed

shirt)

Smilebox Playback

ReferencesO Coloroso, B. (2008). The Bully, The Bullied, and

the Bystander. New York: Harper Collins. O Kohut, M.R. (2007). The Complete Guide to

Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies and Bullying. Ocala: Atlantic Publishing.

O National Health Service Corps. www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

O Swearer, S.M, Espelage, D.L. & Napolitano, S.A. (2009). Bullying Prevention and Intervention : Realistic Strategies for Schools. New York: The Guilford Press.